Crock Pot Baked Ziti with Three Cheeses

Let’s address the elephant in the room right up front. The title says “baked.” But, there is no baking involved in this recipe. Crock Pot Baked Ziti is cooked 100% in a slow cooker.

That’s right, you don’t even have to boil the noodles on a stove top first.

I had no intention of deceiving anyone.

There just isn’t a better way to describe this recipe…it tastes just like the baked version and it looks like it came out of the oven too. We use the same process to make Crock Pot Vegetable Lasagna and it’s delicious too!

It’s just a whole lot easier to make this three cheese pasta favorite in a slower cooker. I still love traditional pasta dishes like 30 Minute Pasta with Olive Oil, Garlic and Mushrooms. But, it’s hard to resist the appeal of a meal that requires so little work and tastes so good!

Crock Pot Baked Ziti Step-by-Step

Here’s the makeover of an old family recipe with tips along the way:

1. Coat the inside of the crock with cooking spray. (There is very little mess if you do this…really!) A liner does not work well in this recipe.

2. Rinse the noodles in a colander and set them aside. (This step seems to get the process of softening the noodles started.) Do not cook the noodles first.

3. The cheese mixture is made with ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. (A little minced garlic would be nice too.) Use full or low-fat depending upon your preference.

4. Layer the ingredients in the crock pot as follows:

Place half the noodles (about 2-1/2 cups) in the bottom of the crock.

Pour 2 cups of pasta sauce over the noodles. (FYI – A 24-ounce jar has 2 1/2 cups of sauce.) I stirred the pasta and sauce together to coat the noodles and then used a spoon to make sure the noodles were in an even layer.

If you want some meat or vegetables in your baked ziti, add them here. Sprinkle cooked ground beef or sliced vegetables, like mushroom and spinach, to make the next layer. (Or, as we do at our house, make the layer half meat and half veggies.)

Divide the cheese mixture in half. (I just take a spoon, eyeball it and draw a line down the middle of the bowl.) Drop small spoonfuls of the cheese mixture all over the top of the previous layer and then use the back of a spoon (or your fingers) to gently press the mixture into an even layer.

Repeat the layers.

Pour the remaining cup of pasta sauce over the top and use a spoon to evenly spread it.

5. Cook the ziti on low for 4-6 hours. (To test if it is done, use a fork to dig out a few noodles to taste.)

6. Remove the lid and sprinkle additional mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the top and garnish with basil. Turn off the slow cooker. Put the lid back on and allow cheeses to melt. It takes about 10 minutes.

7. Serve crock pot baked ziti right out of the slow cooker.

This recipe was a bit of a reminder for me that a slow cooker can be used for many, many things…things you may have read about, but not tried before. Check out all of our crock pot recipes here.

If your slow cooker is collecting dust from limited use (as mine was,) I suggest you drag it out and try this crock pot baked ziti recipe right away! You won’t be disappointed.

As for my crew, they can look forward to a lot more “baked” pasta in our dinner rotation. 🙂

This looks amazing. But I’m going to have to try it to believe it. I don’t know why but I am forever skeptical of the slow cooker. I’m putting it on my meal plan for next week (and am going to feature this as one of my Easy Dinners to the Rescue that I do everyday at 1pm, next week too). I can’t wait to find out if it works for me. I would love a meal as easy and delicious as this!

Any chance this could be sort of half-cooked , refrigerated overnight, and then finished off on high for 3 hours the next day? I need a dish for a potluck lunch at work, won’t have time to assemble un the a.m.and won’t have more than 3 hours to let it cook once I get it to work.

Thank you so much for the wonderfully easy and tasty recipe Marjory! It was so delightful that I had to post about my experience making it with my own not so well taken pictures. 🙂 I linked back to you about a bazillion times, okay at least 3 times in my post because you deserve the kudos. Thanks again! Cheers!

Thanks for sharing this. I enjoyed it! For a recommendation to others, be sure to check it at 4 hours, as suggested. I ended up cooking it for 5 hours and that was too long. It wasn’t overly dry, but the noodles were far overcooked. I might even skip the noodle rinse next time, saving even more dishes 🙂 I added a little garlic to the ricotta mixture and it was good. Thanks again!

I have never tried it in a roaster pan so I really can’t say for sure. You should be able to double the recipe with a larger crock pot though. I’d love to hear about your experience with different cooking methods. Thanks for stopping by!

I used this as a base for my dinner last night. I added Trader Joe’s frozen turkey meatballs, some slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, and sliced olives. I halved the recipe and everything came together beautifully in less than 4 hours!

I’d like to make this for the 4th of July for 16 people. I have a big oval crockpot, I think about a 6 quart. Could I double this and still have it fit and cook okay in the same amount of time as if it were a single recipe? I don’t do a lot of crockpot cooking so I’m not sure about the whole doubling thing. Any help and/or tips are much appreciated!

Hi! Spaghetti definitely works in the crock pot the same way. Because you are using thin noodles, it will take less time…I’m just not sure how long. I would check it after two hours. I’d love to know how it turns out! Thanks for reading.

I’ve never tried pasta in a crock pot before but now I’m a believer. I followed everything except had to use cottage cheese instead if ricotta and it turned out great. Everyone loved it. Oh, I should note, mine cooked in 3.5 hours on low (set at 4 hours). Thanks for the new idea!

Quick question – a regular ziti recipe calls for whole eggs, any reason other than calorie concerns for only using egg whites? I apologize if someone has already asked this, I scanned the comments and didn’t see anything mentioning it. Thanks!

You should be able to find them with the larger-sized crock pots and your best bet will be places that sell locks of small appliances and cookware. Also, they seem to be eaiser to find at the holidays. Good luck!

I came across this recipe yesterday when I forgot to pull the pork out to defrost and I am so glad I did. I always baked my ziti before and didn’t think it could work in the crock pot and I was wrong. It was firm and cooked just right and in my opinion even better than baked ziti! I followed the recipe ingredient by ingredient and it was absolutely delicious. I might add ground beef next time but I’ll definitely be making this again!

I made this for the first time today – DELICIOUS. It was for a work luncheon pot-luck, so I risked it and cooked it for 3 hours on high – and it was perfectly done. I plugged it in at 8 a.m. , added the cheese on top at 10:50 and was ready for the lunch at 11:00. Many compliments, and a nearly empty crockpot!

Hi! Thanks for your commment! It’s hard to diagnose what might have happened with limited information. But, be sure to use regular noodles in the recipe (not the ones designed to be no-cook.) Also, you may want to adjust the time cooked down a bit. I hope that helps!

I’m wondering if you might want to assemble the night before and then take to work and cook. I’m really not sure what the correct timing would be for reheating or if that might end up overcooking the dish.

I took your advice and assembled it the night before. I saw that someone else on this thread cooked it at work on high for 3 hours so I followed that considering my arrival time. It turned out great!!!. I had to send it along while I attended another meeting. When I made it to the luncheon, there were only two servings left with several inquiring about your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing this. This will come in handy for other potlucks and family gatherings.

I’m THRILLED to have found this- thank you! Making it tonight and then will put in fridge for tmw night’s dinner (I’m gone too long during the day), so tmw. morning, my dinner is DONE!
It looks amazing and i can’t wait for the fam to wake up to the incredible smell!! thanks again!

Thanks so much! I planned on making Baked Ziti this Sunday for my grandchildren’s Baptism celebration. I kept thinking how am I going to bake it while we are all at church. Now my worries are over. I will have to double the recipe. Will the same 3-4 hours cooking time on low still apply? I can’t wait to try this!

Will defintely be trying this out. I work a lot of nights and so does hubby, so that usually means our teenaged kids are fending for themselves which I hate. I will definitely be following you for more great recipes. I have two large crock pots, time to break them in! Thank you so much, look forward to more recipes ????????

Color me surprised. No one really eats ziti in my family but I just had to try this to see if it can be done and because it looked so good. As I was preparing it I thought, “there’s no way this isn’t going to be ziti soup”. Not only was it not, it soaked up so much of the sauce I had to use more for when I served it. Overall I’d say it was quite good.

I know you said spaghetti noodles would work but in less time. I want to use what I have in the cupboard and that is penne rigate noodles. Would you cook them for 4 hrs? Thanks and I’m going to try this recipe tomorrow:)

Sorry but the sauce was absorbed, therefore not enough sauce and the noodles were mushy at 6 hours on low. The taste was great and we will still finish it off. I would suggest testing it at 4 hours and also having extra sauce set aside. Also, unsure about rinsing noodles, i think maybe just mixing the sauce into the noodles is enough.

Hi! I have not tried assembling this the night before with uncooked noodles. However, I have assembled it ahead of time with cooked noodles to make in the oven and this works fine. I have a feeling it *might* work. If you do try it, please let us know how it went! Thanks!

At the 4 hour mark, the pasta was still not quite cooked (very al dente). I added the cheese topping & left it to cook for additional 30 mins, which resulted in the pasta being rather gummy/ a touch overcooked.

NOTE to self: STOP the cooking after 4 hours on low & the pasta should be perfect!

Making this for a work potluck tomorrow. I doubled the recipe with no egg in a large crock pot. set for 6 hours while I sleep, then a reheat tomorrow at work. Hope it comes out good. Didn’t have time for a boil & bake with kids, homework, etc. Wish me luck!!!

Hi! Depending upon the size of your slow cooker, you could double the recipe and I don’t think the cook times would need to change. If the amounts in the recipe are used and the layers are very thin, then it will cook faster…I would suggest checking after about 2 hours. I’ve never cooked it in a larger slow cooker…but would love to know how it turns out!